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Good read on Eric Kendricks. Part of a featured series.
"The NFL Pedigree"
Published: Feb. 10, 2015 at 9:40 a.m.
The day Eric Kendricks and his brother, Mychal, came across two pairs of boxing gloves in a yard sale, and pooled enough change to take them home, Eddie, the tough guy in their neighborhood, was finished.
Their friends took turns with the gloves and the brothers, competitive as they were, tried them out on each other as well.
But the neighborhood pecking order wasn't fully established until Mychal, now a fast-rising linebacker with the Philadelphia Eagles, stood up for everyone else.
"Eddie was the neighborhood tough guy. He was older than everyone. One day my brother put the gloves on with Eddie and whooped him pretty good," said Eric, who was only in fifth grade at the time. "It was kind of a big deal for me and a lot of the little kids."
Today, the fight is a very different one for Eric Kendricks, who is competing with hundreds of prospects for his slice of the NFL draft pie. But from neighborhood boxing to playing college football, and now en route to the pros, he's always had a brother who could show him the way.
Kendricks has been projected as high as a second-round pick, the same round his brother was chosen in 2012. Currently preparing for the combine at the EXOS training facility in Phoenix, he is refining all the measurables -- speed, strength, agility -- that NFL clubs will use to size him up against the other inside linebackers available in the draft. Mychal has joined him there in support of his efforts, just as Eric visited Mychal when he was training for the combine exactly three years ago.
They have both proven to be durable, consistent tackling machines. Of all the things that can be said about the gift for the game the Kendricks brothers share, this might be the most striking: At the young ages of just 24 and 22, they've made an incredible 946 tackles at the Pac-12 and NFL levels combined. Eric finished his UCLA career with 481, most in school history.
"That means the world to me," Kendricks said. "I set that as a goal and nobody handed it to me. I had to go earn it."
Among other school records, he made 10 stops or more 25 times -- about two full seasons worth of games -- in his Bruins career. He won the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker, and the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which has more of a character-based criteria.
To use scouting jargon, he checks the boxes for productivity and being a good teammate with permanent ink. A third checked box: his practice habits.
He redshirted at UCLA in 2010, and was named the Bruins' scout team player of the year. The week UCLA played Arizona State, coaches tossed him the No. 7 jersey, that of Sun Devils star Vontaze Burfict, and turned him loose on the UCLA offense all week in practice.
"They literally told me I could do anything I wanted," Kendricks said. "That was the most fun week of practice I have ever had, because I had no assignment. They just said, 'Play ball.' "
He did just that for the ensuing four years, creating woe for Pac-12 offenses on a weekly basis. And Mychal was there with the right advice whenever it was needed.
"For the most part, it's more self-confidence. We were underdogs growing up in Fresno. We'd been overlooked because of our size or whatever," Eric said. "He's always put that confidence in me at times when I may not have had it."
Mychal, who starred at Cal, was drafted in the second round (No. 46 overall) by the Philadelphia Eagles three years ago. NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah, a scout for the Eagles at the time, saw the pick coming months in advance.
"You saw so much athleticism with (Mychal)," Jeremiah said. "I went in there (at Cal) and texted our general manager and said, 'I'm watching our second-round pick,' and that was in August. He was just so explosive."
The younger Kendricks isn't considered quite as explosive, but has rare instincts for the position. Mychal ran a 4.47 at the 2012 combine, an incredible time for an inside linebacker, but Eric isn't making any predictions for himself. "We'll see," is all he would say.
His older brother's success with the Eagles certainly can't hurt Eric's draft stock. But he'll ultimately be judged on his own merit.
"If you've got a successful family member in the league, it's always the case that's made. It always helps," Jeremiah said. "But there is always pushback on that, too. If you don't like the guy, I've been in a draft room where someone said, 'This guy's a lot more Ozzie Canseco than Jose Canseco.' "
-- Chase Goodbread
Good read on Eric Kendricks. Part of a featured series.
"The NFL Pedigree"
Published: Feb. 10, 2015 at 9:40 a.m.
The day Eric Kendricks and his brother, Mychal, came across two pairs of boxing gloves in a yard sale, and pooled enough change to take them home, Eddie, the tough guy in their neighborhood, was finished.
Their friends took turns with the gloves and the brothers, competitive as they were, tried them out on each other as well.
But the neighborhood pecking order wasn't fully established until Mychal, now a fast-rising linebacker with the Philadelphia Eagles, stood up for everyone else.
"Eddie was the neighborhood tough guy. He was older than everyone. One day my brother put the gloves on with Eddie and whooped him pretty good," said Eric, who was only in fifth grade at the time. "It was kind of a big deal for me and a lot of the little kids."
Today, the fight is a very different one for Eric Kendricks, who is competing with hundreds of prospects for his slice of the NFL draft pie. But from neighborhood boxing to playing college football, and now en route to the pros, he's always had a brother who could show him the way.
Kendricks has been projected as high as a second-round pick, the same round his brother was chosen in 2012. Currently preparing for the combine at the EXOS training facility in Phoenix, he is refining all the measurables -- speed, strength, agility -- that NFL clubs will use to size him up against the other inside linebackers available in the draft. Mychal has joined him there in support of his efforts, just as Eric visited Mychal when he was training for the combine exactly three years ago.
They have both proven to be durable, consistent tackling machines. Of all the things that can be said about the gift for the game the Kendricks brothers share, this might be the most striking: At the young ages of just 24 and 22, they've made an incredible 946 tackles at the Pac-12 and NFL levels combined. Eric finished his UCLA career with 481, most in school history.
"That means the world to me," Kendricks said. "I set that as a goal and nobody handed it to me. I had to go earn it."
Among other school records, he made 10 stops or more 25 times -- about two full seasons worth of games -- in his Bruins career. He won the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker, and the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which has more of a character-based criteria.
To use scouting jargon, he checks the boxes for productivity and being a good teammate with permanent ink. A third checked box: his practice habits.
He redshirted at UCLA in 2010, and was named the Bruins' scout team player of the year. The week UCLA played Arizona State, coaches tossed him the No. 7 jersey, that of Sun Devils star Vontaze Burfict, and turned him loose on the UCLA offense all week in practice.
"They literally told me I could do anything I wanted," Kendricks said. "That was the most fun week of practice I have ever had, because I had no assignment. They just said, 'Play ball.' "
He did just that for the ensuing four years, creating woe for Pac-12 offenses on a weekly basis. And Mychal was there with the right advice whenever it was needed.
"For the most part, it's more self-confidence. We were underdogs growing up in Fresno. We'd been overlooked because of our size or whatever," Eric said. "He's always put that confidence in me at times when I may not have had it."
Mychal, who starred at Cal, was drafted in the second round (No. 46 overall) by the Philadelphia Eagles three years ago. NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah, a scout for the Eagles at the time, saw the pick coming months in advance.
"You saw so much athleticism with (Mychal)," Jeremiah said. "I went in there (at Cal) and texted our general manager and said, 'I'm watching our second-round pick,' and that was in August. He was just so explosive."
The younger Kendricks isn't considered quite as explosive, but has rare instincts for the position. Mychal ran a 4.47 at the 2012 combine, an incredible time for an inside linebacker, but Eric isn't making any predictions for himself. "We'll see," is all he would say.
His older brother's success with the Eagles certainly can't hurt Eric's draft stock. But he'll ultimately be judged on his own merit.
"If you've got a successful family member in the league, it's always the case that's made. It always helps," Jeremiah said. "But there is always pushback on that, too. If you don't like the guy, I've been in a draft room where someone said, 'This guy's a lot more Ozzie Canseco than Jose Canseco.' "
-- Chase Goodbread
Photo courtesy of USA Today
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